Virtual Team Management: A Persuasive Memo for Marketing Directors

This persuasive memo, addressed to a marketing director, identifies key areas that need attention when leading and managing virtual teams. It begins by acknowledging the challenges posed by the lack of face-to-face communication in virtual environments, particularly within geographically dispersed teams. The memo highlights the importance of addressing communication breakdowns, which can lead to information loss and miscommunication, as well as the lack of social interaction and trust among team members. It emphasizes the need to consider cultural differences within teams. Despite these challenges, the memo underscores the advantages of virtual teams, such as access to a wider talent pool, cost reduction, and the ability to address local market needs. The memo concludes by emphasizing the role of technology and effective communication in overcoming obstacles and fostering successful virtual team operations, aligning with the increasing globalization of business and modern market policies.

Running head: PERSUASIVE MEMO
PERSUASIVE MEMO
Name of Student
Name of University
Author note

1PERSUASIVE MEMO
Memorandum
To: The Marketing Director
From:
Date: 10th August 2018
Subject: Identification of important areas that needs addressing while leading and managing a
virtual team.
The modern age and the emergence of the advanced technologies of communication has
enhanced the business operations to carry out their management in a smooth manner. The
present requirements of the virtual teams are a challenging issue as there is hardly any face to
face communication. This enables the employees to have a unique experience. As per the
management decision of the Sydney headquarter, new marketing teams are being developed
in New York, Mumbai, Sydney and Beijing. The main challenge that will be faced by the
marketing team is to manage the virtual teams which are located at different geographical
locations. The discussion will highlight the different aspects of managing a virtual team. The
purpose of the discussion will focus on the challenges of managing a virtual team and
thereafter the key aspects of the virtual team which will state its importance. The discussion
will also explore the different reasons that are crucial for the formation of a virtual team.
The primary challenge of managing a virtual team is the lack of communication. The virtual
teams face the lack of everyday communication, which leads to information loss (Daim et al.
2012). This results in the miscommunication which creates an unhealthy team environment.
The result of these miscommunication leads to the lack of interaction between the team
members which inhibits new innovations and the main purpose of the virtual teams that is the
effectiveness of business communication. This type of miscommunication is the result of
social interactions. The virtual teams hardly meet the other team members face to face which

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does not develop the professional friendly relation between them. This creates
mismanagement as the team members are often unaware of the other member’s working
condition while demanding result from them. This lack of social interaction creates barriers
for the projects that the team works upon. Moreover, another challenge of managing a virtual
team is the lack of trust that is the most common due to the lack of interaction between the
team members. This happens due to the different work times of the team members (Pinjani
and Palvia 2013). The team members cannot interact directly and hence are not aware of each
other’s contribution towards the project. The lack of support and co-operation becomes more
prominent in virtual teams.
Virtual teams are made up of people from different cultural backgrounds which is dependent
on the different locations of the teams. The intercultural communication gap poses a major
barrier for the proper functioning of the virtual teams. The team members have to be aware of
the cultural backgrounds of the other team members in order to perform more efficiently
(Lilian 2014).
However, despite these challenges the importance of virtual teams cannot be denied for the
proper functioning of an organization. Virtual teams can open up the recruitment of proper
and talented individuals who can be hired from different regions from any part of the world
(Erez et al. 2013). Moreover, virtual teams reduce the cost of setting up large offices at a
particular place. Small offices at different locations can secure the required work for the
proper functioning of the organization. The political situations of different countries are
considerably different. Hence, the establishment of localized virtual teams can lead to a better
addressing of these problems (Mockaitis, Rose and Zettinig 2012). The team members reduce
the cost of outsourcing as the virtual teams are directly under the company’s payroll.
Moreover, being direct employees of the company the responsibility factor is also higher in
these teams and this can lead to an efficient work culture in the teams. These objectives can

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be achieved through the advanced communication technologies where more personal
interactions can be done and can narrow down the intercultural communication barriers.
The increasing globalization and the modern business policies has compelled the present
business organizations to gain their footholds in the foreign markets by active expansion of
the business. This type of expansion requires proper planning and an efficient infrastructure.
The presence of virtual teams are a solution to these problems as these teams can plan
according to the requirements of the local community. Moreover, the use of modern
technologies and communication tools lessen the distance between the parent organization
and the virtual teams for a more enhanced performance. There are many obstacles which the
teams might face during its functioning but the team’s ability to cope up with the problems
and a sustainable approach towards the issues can lead to the formation and operation of a
successful virtual team.
Thank you,
Marketing Team Member
Email id:
Contact details:

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Reference:
Daim, T.U., Ha, A., Reutiman, S., Hughes, B., Pathak, U., Bynum, W. and Bhatla, A., 2012.
Exploring the communication breakdown in global virtual teams. International Journal of
Project Management, 30(2), pp.199-212.
Pinjani, P. and Palvia, P., 2013. Trust and knowledge sharing in diverse global virtual teams.
Information & Management, 50(4), pp.144-153.
Erez, M., Lisak, A., Harush, R., Glikson, E., Nouri, R. and Shokef, E., 2013. Going global:
Developing management students' cultural intelligence and global identity in culturally
diverse virtual teams. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 12(3), pp.330-355.
Lilian, S.C., 2014. Virtual teams: Opportunities and challenges for e-leaders. Procedia-Social
and Behavioral Sciences, 110, pp.1251-1261.
Mockaitis, A.I., Rose, E.L. and Zettinig, P., 2012. The power of individual cultural values in
global virtual teams. International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, 12(2), pp.193-
210.